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Tag Archives: Curious Words

German ‘Mother’ Words Posted by on Oct 14, 2020

Guten Tag! In a recent post, I looked at the word Muttermal in detail. Whilst researching that post, it occurred to me how many German words start with the word mother – die Mutter. Some have obvious translations, while others are a little more intriguing. Today I thought I’d give you a handful of these…

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The Curiosity of the German Word “Wehrmacht” Posted by on Sep 17, 2020

You may have heard of the German word die Wehrmacht (armed forces), which was what the German armed forces were called during the Second World War. When trying to pronounce the word, you may have gotten close to something that sounds like “Warmacht”, which may have lead you to conclude that Wehr must mean “war” in German. Not true!…

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What’s The Difference? Lernen And Lehren In German Posted by on Jul 29, 2020

Guten Tag! This is the third and final post on the difference between some very closely linked words. These are German words that are either similar in meaning or similar in appearance (or both), which often means they are used incorrectly. This post looks at the words lehren (to teach) and lernen (to learn). We…

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The Curiosity of the Word “Homeoffice” Posted by on Jul 23, 2020

It’s quarantine time, and so many people are working from home. So you set up your regular office at home – you built yourself a home office! In German, we normally call our office a Büro or Schreibtisch (literally “writing table”). But when working from home, it’s not a Heimbüro, but curiously, a “Homeoffice”. And even if you don’t have…

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The German Staycation Posted by on May 27, 2020

Guten Tag! I hope you’re all well and staying safe during the pandemic (die Pandemie). Here in the UK, restrictions are gradually being eased and, as a result, people have been flocking to the beaches to enjoy the sunny weather. But many are uncomfortable with the amount of people in those public places and are…

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The German Prefix ‘Un’ Posted by on Apr 22, 2020

Guten Tag! Today we’re going to talk about German nouns that start with ‘Un’. Like in English, there are many adjectives in German that begin with ‘un’ to signify lack or negation. Some examples include the words unbequem (uncomfortable) and unverständlich (unintelligible). In both English and German, removing the prefix ‘un’ from these examples would…

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The German Word ‘Glück’: Happiness Or Luck? Posted by on Mar 25, 2020

Guten Tag! Recently I’ve been talking about das Glück (luck) on the blog, and I wanted to address something that could be confusing about this word. If you studied German in school, one of the first adjectives you probably learnt was the word for happy – glücklich. Ich bin glücklich – I am happy Ich…

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